Philosophy Weekly Newsletter - Thursday, November 26, 2015

Philosophy newsletter

Top new questions this week: How can an uneducated but rational person differentiate between science and religion? I recently found myself unable to respond to the statement "But the big bang theory is just another creation myth!" during a science vs religion argument. I found it very difficult to explain the ... epistemology philosophy-of-science skepticism   asked by Alexander S King 33 votes answered by Dave 9 votes Does philosophy progress? The question of progress is occasionally raised with regard to variety of fields - natural science, social science, art, and so on. But, can we at all have reasonable criteria by which to determine or ... history-of-philosophy   asked by student 9 votes answered by Bumble 4 votes The question of freedom and/or pornography On what grounds can the state, presumably - a democratic state, interfere to prohibit or limit its subjects from producing, distributing and consuming pornography? Does the state have any right to ... ethics political-philosophy   asked by Sigma 6 votes answered by Jordan S 14 votes What is the difference between identity and equivalence? While the problems of identity seem to have more heft in philosophy, I am actually more interested in the meaning of "equivalence" as symbolized in the (=) sign and, in guilt by association,with ... logic metaphysics philosophy-of-mathematics reference-request   asked by Nelson Alexander 6 votes answered by Bumble 5 votes What is Kant's effect on modern culture, beyond philosophy? It is fairly easy to argue that the ideas of the most notable philosophers in history (those whose names are familiar to laymen) have had effects on society beyond just their influence on other ... history-of-philosophy kant   asked by Alexander S King 6 votes answered by Philip Klöcking 7 votes Thinkers and scientists opposed to philosophy? I have heard of some thinkers having negative opinions on the use of philosophy. I want to understand this point of view. I would the names of some thinkers, and especially scientists, who have held ... philosophy-of-science   asked by Vinaykumar 5 votes answered by Alexander S King 5 votes Is 'meaning of life' a recent topic in philosophy? Thaddeus Metz states in 'Meaning in Life' (2014) that: And a thorough search by professional philosophers has not been undertaken long at all, having begun in earnest only in the 1980s or so. ... metaphilosophy meaning-of-life   asked by onion 4 votes answered by virmaior 6 votes Greatest hits from previous weeks: What is the Difference Between Human Rights and Natural Rights? When people discuss the human rights and natural rights, there seems to be a distinction between the two, where standard interpretations of human rights (such as the Universal Declaration of Human ... ethics political-philosophy human-rights locke   asked by Kupyn 7 votes answered by virmaior 3 votes What are some criticisms of Epicurus' "death is nothing to us"? Epicurus famously asserted that death should not be feared, with roughly the following argument: When we die, we no longer exist; Since we no longer exist, we can feel neither pain nor pleasure. ... metaphysics death epicurus question-of-the-week   asked by commando 15 votes answered by David Titarenco 15 votes Can you answer these? Soudness of an argument in natural language Philosophers and participants on this boards love to talk about arguments and a few of them love to talk about soundness of arguments [like here What are some criticisms of Epicurus' "death ... logic language   asked by Pola 1 vote Why does Hume believe a priori knowledge retains the value of meaning despite our not experiencing it? Hume believes that the only meaningful thoughts are those about relations of ideas (known a priori, examples including mathematics and logic) and matters of fact (known a posterior, examples including ... hume   asked by Chosen One 1 vote What developments prompted Cliffords picture of spacetime? In 1870, Clifford, the English mathematician and sometime philosopher wrote the following in his book, On the Space theory of Matter; I hold as a fact: That small portions of space are in ... history-of-philosophy philosophy-of-physics ancient-philosophy   asked by Mozibur Ullah 2 votes

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